A Clockwork Orange

SPOILER ALERT

Click here to read my review of Old Boy

Number 83 on the top 1000 greatest movies of all time is Stanley Kubrick's highly controversial A Clockwork Orange, based on Anthony Burgess' 1962 novel of the same name.  As I haven't read it, I won't be discussing it in detail within this review.

Alex DeLarge (Malcolm Mcdowell) is leader of the Droogs, a small group of thugs whose hobbies include vandalism and ultra-violence- that is they enjoy beating and raping people.  After Alex's fellow Droogs mutiny on him leading to his arrest and imprisonment, Alex is subjected to the Ludovico technique.  An experimental new treatment designed to suppress Alex's violent tendencies.

There's no denying that this was a controversial film.  It inspired a number of copycat attacks and killings and even Kubrick requested that it be withdrawn from British distribution.  Its extreme portrayal of violence is what makes this film difficult to watch, but also essential viewing.  Anthony Burgess argued that he wrote a Clockwork Orange as an examination of free will and morality within Christianity.

From the start of the film, it is obvious that Alex has no morality and over-indulges in free will.  He has no qualms about beating, raping or even killing people.  All three of these acts are shown in graphic detail, but I feel that this is absolutely essential to the experience of the film.  Alex is established as a brute of a man, but then the question begs whether he deserves to have the Ludovico technique forced upon him.

Does he deserve to be forcibly conditioned? Do the government have any right to try to change a person without their permission or consent? The Ludovico technique involves Alex having his head strapped down, his eyelids propped open and forced to watch violent imagery.  This is distressing to watch, as it is for Alex to endure.  He protests for the conditioning to be stopped, but his cries fall on deaf ears.  The technique is akin to torture and opens the door to a wider moral debate: if we resort to the same means as criminals, are we any better than them? Do two wrongs make a right?

This leads into the next biggest theme that a Clockwork Orange engages with: punitive vs. rehabilitation justice.  Should you punish criminals or try to rehabilitate them to turn them into better citizens? Just look at the differences between the punitive-based prison system in America and the rehabilitative-based prison system in Northern Europe.  Countries like Finland and Norway put an emphasis on rehabilitating prisoners and their prison cells are like hotel rooms.  Compare this to America which punishes its prisoners by crowding them into tiny prisons and then executing them.

Which works better? Well, Finland and Norway have 57 and 71 prisoners per 100,000 people respectively, compared to America which has a rate of 693 prisoners per 100,000 people.  America's current prisoner population stands at 2,217,947, which is 60,157 more people than it's supposed to hold.  In contrast, Finland and Norway have prison populations of 3,105 and 3,710, which is under their prison capacity.  Obviously, countries like Finland and Norway are far smaller than America and what works for them might not work for a huge country like America.  Yet it is obvious that Finland and Norway's rehabilitative system is more successful than America's punitive system.

This article was interesting further reading: http://www.newsforage.com/2013/08/the-norwegian-prison-where-inmates-are.html

Within a Clockwork Orange, Alex is sentenced to fourteen years in prison.  However, he is then conditioned and rehabilitated until the thought of physical violence makes him sick.  Although, it could be argued that the conditioning was morally and ethically wrong, was it still better to at least attempt to rehabilitate Alex rather than leaving him to rot in a jail cell? The rehabilitation fails in the end, but it still may have been more effective than not even attempting to change Alex for the better.

A brilliant example of punitive justice gone wrong is the Shawshank Redemption.  This film portrays the true horrors of the American prison system: prisoners are beaten day in and day out.  No effort is made to rehabilitate them or prepare them for life on the outside world.  Brooks Hatlen who becomes institutionalised after spending fifty years inside kills himself when he cannot adapt to life outside of prison.  As the prison system made little effort to reintegrate him into society, he could not cope and thus committed suicide.  Could this have happened to Alex if the Ludovico Technique had not used on him?

A Clockwork Orange opens the door to many moral and ethical debates about the Criminal Justice and prison systems.  If you have a weak stomach, I suggest you buckle up, as this film, and every single violent image it portrays, is absolutely essential viewing.  Meanwhile, I'll leave you to ponder this debate: is it better to punish or rehabilitate prisoners? I don't claim to have an answer, but it's an interesting question nonetheless.

Sources:

http://www.prisonstudies.org/country/finland

http://www.prisonstudies.org/country/norway

http://www.prisonstudies.org/country/united-states-america

Old Boy Review

Click here to go my previous review of Once Upon a Time in America

FULL SPOILER ALERT

"Even though I am no better than a beast, don't I deserve a chance to live?"

Number 82 on top 1000 greatest films of all time is the mystery thriller neo-noir thriller Old Boy.

After seven American films, I have returned to the best of foreign-language cinema.  South Korea's contribution is the brilliant Old Boy.

One night without any explanation, Korean Businessman Oh Dae-Su (Choi Min-Sik) is kidnapped and placed in a hotel room-cum-prison cell.  Here he is held for fifteen years with no explanation given to who his captor is or why he is being imprisoned.  He spends his time shadow-boxing, watching TV and attempting to tunnel his way out of his cell.  However, before he finishes his attempt he is abruptly released.  Upon being released, with the help of young sushi chef Mido (Kang Hye-jung,) Oh Dae-su vows to discover the identity of his captor and take his revenge.

Old Boy is not a film for the faint-hearted.  If you are squeamish or unable to follow such a densely plotted film, then I suggest you buckle up and give it your best shot.  Even if you can't follow the film's many twists and turns, then you can at least appreciate the film's cinematography.  I've read IMDB reviews praising the film's cinematography and I would say that this praise is well-deserved.  Stylistically this film is brilliant.  As one review reads "each shot is bursting with colour." There is an incredible amount of detail.  This ranges from the close-ups to the master shots.  In some form or another, each and every shot contained meaning.

Oh Dae-Su also narrates this film in the present tense giving the film a real energy.  It makes it that more intense.

When Oh Dae-Su is locked in the prison, he spends his time shadow-boxing.  When he is released he puts this taining to good use in some excellently choreographed fight scenes, such as the famous one-take corridor fight scene.  This was made only more epic by the music playing.

Overall the musical score is great.  In every scene, the music fits it perfectly.

The characters are densely layered and entirely three-dimensional.  From the beginning, it was obvious that he would be fulfilling the tragic hero archetype, with Oh Dae Su's fatal flaw being that he speaks too much.  The film opens with him being in a police station after being arrested for drunken and disorderly behaviour.  In the station, he gets himself into more trouble by refusing to keep his mouth shut.  His character is initially portrayed as pathetic and annoying, which is his transformation to a fearless killer by the film's conclusion is so great to watch.

Whilst the vast majority of reviews I read praised the film on its visuals, direction and performances, there were one or two more critical ones.  These reviews pointed out that the film is riddled with plot-holes, both big and small.  This is something I can respect, as I noticed a few of my own.  Firstly, Oh Dae-Su is able to attempt tunnelling out of prison, as once during dinner, he was given three metal chopsticks instead of two.  Why was he given the third chopstick? I can only assume his captors wanted to see Oh Dae-Su attempt to escape and failing.

Secondly, Oh Dae-Su has been locked in a prison for fifteen years with little exposure to sunlight and all of the benefits it brings.  How then is he able to successfully able to defend himself against multiple enemies in fight after fight? Not only does he fight them off, but he leaves them struggling to breathe on the floor.  This is despite how earlier on in the film, he collapses from vitamin A and E deficiencies.

Thirdly, I felt that the antagonist, Lee Woo-Jin (Yoo Ji-tae) was played by a far too young actor.  Woo-Jin was an old school colleague of Dae-Su's.  This would imply, of course, that the two went to school together.  However, their ages don't add up.  Dae-Su looks to be in his forties, whereas Woo-Jin still appears to be in his twenties.  This therefore makes Woo-Jin too young to be behind Dae-Su's imprison, as he would have still been a teenager when Dae-Su was kidnapped.  I think that the studio should have found an older actor to play Yoo-Jin.  This is no disrespect to Yoo Ji-Tae's brilliant performance, but I feel that this is too big of a plot-hole to ignore.

Another of the IMDB reviews criticised Old Boy for how it is so against its protagonist Dae-Su.  Whilst I argue that this is true, I feel that this is all part of the tragic hero archetype and the revenge narrative.

  SPOILER ALERT SPOILERS FROM HEREAFTER

Old Boy is a film about the futility of revenge.  Dae-Su wants revenge on Woo-Jin for kidnapping him.  Woo-Jin wants revenge on Dae-Su for how at school, he saw him commit incest with his sister and then began spreading rumours about it.  One of these rumours was that Woo-Jin got his sister pregnant.  It is never confirmed whether this is true or not, but the devastating implications of it leads to his sister killing herself.  Both men commit themselves to their vengeance.  Dae-Su enlists the help of Mido and his friend Joo-hwan (who pays the ultimate price for helping Dae-Su) to track down Woo-Jin.  However, Woo-Jin's revenge is far more sadistic and destructive.  At the same time as he kidnaps and imprisons Dae-Su, he also kidnaps Dae-Su's four year old daughter and, for fifteen years, raises her as if she were his own (another reason why the actor playing Woo-Jin should have been older.) After Dae-Su is released, using post-hypnotic suggestion, Woo-Jin manipulates Dae-Su and Mido into falling in love with each other and eventually having sex.  Woo-Jin the reveals to Dae-Su that Mido is actually his daughter and he has just committed incest.

So whilst the IMDB reviewer was right in saying that the film is not with its protagonist, I think this film showcases the danger of becoming overcome by a desire for vengeance.  Old Boy is very much a film where the bad guy wins.  We see the pathetic, but tragic image of Dae-Su being reduced to a grovelling mess begging Woo-Jin not to reveal the truth to Mido.  He kisses Woo-Jin's shoes, says that he will be his dog and goes so far to cut out his tongue to signify that he will never speak too much again.  See Dae-Su destruct in front of his eyes, Woo-Jin's quest for vengeance is fulfilled.  Having nothing else to live for, he kills himself, leaving Dae-Su to live his dishonour.  Dae-Su has become consumed by his quest for vengeance and it has cost him everything.

The final scene is the film's most powerful.  Dae-Su goes to a hypnotherapist who he hopes can make him forget what has happened.  Yet it is left ambiguous whether this actually works.  The final shots of the film see Dae-Su meeting Mido with her saying that she loves him.  The final shot is Dae-Su's tortured grin.

Old Boy is a deeply psychological film about one man who becomes consumed by his desire for revenge.  It is an absolute must-see and it is in my top five films that I have seen since I started this challenge.  I think it should be much higher than number 82.  It is certainly better than Citizen Kane or Witness for the Prosecution.  Old Boy is full of gorgeous proverbs, but I'll end this review on its most prevalent one:

"Laugh and the world laughs with you.  Weep and you weep alone."

Once Upon a Time in America Review

Click here to go to my review of Her

Number 80 on the top 1000 greatest films of all time is Sergio Leone's epic crime-thriller Once Upon a Time in America.

Leone's sprawling venture into the mobster genre encompasses three separate narratives centring on David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro) leader of a group of Jewish gangsters during Prohibition era.  The first narrative is set during Noodles' childhood, as he and his friend rise up the ranks to form a small gang of their own.  After Noodle goes to jail, for avenging the murder of one of his friends, the rest of his friends form a business to boot-leg alcohol, which Noodle joins when he is released from prison in 1930.  The final narrative takes place in 1968, where Noodle returns to his old neighbourhood after decades of being away.

Sergio Leone originally wanted to release this film in two three hour long installments, but after the studio denied his request, he instead release one three and a half hour film.  This is the version that I watched.  There also exists a two hour European cut, but as this was a critical and commercial flop, I decided to stay clear of it.  For a three and a half long film, it was surprisingly easy to follow.  Sure at 210 minutes, the pacing wasn't entirely even and I did get bored at moments, but these moments were few and far between.  I felt that the three and a half hour run time gave this film a chance to breathe.  It delved deeply into each character's backstory and developed them into something other than the Corleone-esque gangster figure.  It was really interesting seeing the growth of these young boys and the loyalty that they demonstrated towards each other.

Once Upon a Time in America is the third in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time trilogy after Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time...A Revolution.  Whilst I haven't seen the latter, I found Once Upon a Time in America far easier to follow than Once Upon a Time in The West.  The first two narratives dovetailed each other nicely and it was easy to see how the second narrative is a continuation of the first one.  Although, the third narrative was a little more difficult to follow, as there were thirty year , rather than twelve, separating this storyline from the previous one.  This caused a big disconnect and make it a little harder to follow what was happening.

Once Upon a Time in America also felt painstakingly accurate.  From the costumes to the location to the dialogue and props, everything seemed authentic.  This added to the brilliant realism of the film and helped to bring everything to life.

One of the best aspects of the film was how it objectively portrayed the life of Noodles and the other gangsters.  It doesn't romanticise their actions, like the The Godfather does, but rather allows the audience to come to their own decisions.  From the outset, it is obvious that Noodles and his cronies are bad men.  They're cheats, thieves, rapists and murderers.  Their actions aren't celebrated, but documented.  It is left to the audience to make up their own minds.  Are Noodles and his men parasitical, murdering criminals? Or are they emasculated, alienated men to survive in the only way they know how? I'll leave you to think about that.